Legget-Garg inequality for a two-mode entangled bosonic system.

We discuss a model of two nonlinear quantum oscillators mutually coupled by linear interaction and continuously driven by external coherent excitation. For such a system, we analyze temporal correlations. We examine the violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality analysing various scenarios of measurements. These scenarios are based on the projection onto different Bell states. We show that the possibility of violation of the Leggett-Garg inequalities is associated with the use of different projectors.

Generalized sub-Poissonian states of two-beam fields.

Two-beam states obtained by partial photon-number-resolving detection in one beam of a multi-mode twin beam are experimentally investigated using an intensified CCD camera. In these states, sub-Poissonian photon-number distributions in one beam are accompanied by sub-shot-noise fluctuations in the photon-number difference of both beams. Multi-mode character of the twin beam implying the beam nearly Poissonian statistics is critical for reaching sub-Poissonian photon-number distributions, which contrasts with the use of a two-mode squeezed vacuum state. Relative intensities of both nonclassical effects as they depend on the generation conditions are investigated both theoretically and experimentally using photon-number distributions of these fields. Fano factor, noise-reduction parameter, local and global nonclassicality depths, degree of photon-number coherence, mutual entropy as a non-Gaussianity quantifier, and negative quasi-distributions of integrated intensities are used to characterize these fields. Spatial photon-pair correlations as means for improving the field properties are employed. These states are appealing for quantum metrology and imaging including the virtual-state entangled-photon spectroscopy.

The effect of thermal photons on exceptional points in coupled resonators.

We analyse two quantum systems with hidden parity-time ([Formula: see text]) symmetry: one is an optical device, whereas another is a superconducting microwave-frequency device. To investigate their symmetry, we introduce a damping frame (DF), in which loss and gain terms for a given Hamiltonian are balanced. We show that the non-Hermitian Hamiltonians of both systems can be tuned to reach an exceptional point (EP), i.e., the point in parameter space at which a transition from broken to unbroken hidden [Formula: see text] symmetry takes place. We calculate a degeneracy of a Liouvillian superoperator, which is called the Liouvillian exceptional point (LEP), and show that, in the optical domain, LEP is equivalent to EP obtained from the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian (HEP). We also report breaking the equivalence between LEP and HEP by a non-zero number of thermal photons for the microwave-frequency system.

Quantification of Quantum Correlations in Two-Beam Gaussian States Using Photon-Number Measurements.

Identification, and subsequent quantification of quantum correlations, is critical for understanding, controlling, and engineering quantum devices and processes. We derive and implement a general method to quantify various forms of quantum correlations using solely the experimental intensity moments up to the fourth order. This is possible as these moments allow for an exact determination of the global and marginal impurities of two-beam Gaussian fields. This leads to the determination of steering, tight lower and upper bounds for the negativity, and the Kullback-Leibler divergence used as a quantifier of state nonseparability. The principal squeezing variances are determined as well using the intensity moments. The approach is demonstrated on the experimental twin beams with increasing intensity and the squeezed super-Gaussian beams composed of photon pairs. Our method is readily applicable to multibeam Gaussian fields to characterize their quantum correlations.

Hybrid photon-phonon blockade.

We describe a novel type of blockade in a hybrid mode generated by linear coupling of photonic and phononic modes. We refer to this effect as hybrid photon-phonon blockade and show how it can be generated and detected in a driven nonlinear optomechanical superconducting system. Thus, we study boson-number correlations in the photon, phonon, and hybrid modes in linearly coupled microwave and mechanical resonators with a superconducting qubit inserted in one of them. We find such system parameters for which we observe eight types of different combinations of either blockade or tunnelling effects (defined via the sub- and super-Poissonian statistics, respectively) for photons, phonons, and hybrid bosons. In particular, we find that the hybrid photon-phonon blockade can be generated by mixing the photonic and phononic modes which do not exhibit blockade.

Mixedness, Coherence and Entanglement in a Family of Three-Qubit States.

We consider a family of states describing three-qubit systems. We derived formulas showing the relations between linear entropy and measures of coherence such as degree of coherence, first- and second-order correlation functions. We show that qubit-qubit states are strongly entangled when linear entropy reaches some range of values. For such states, we derived the conditions determining boundary values of linear entropy parametrized by measures of coherence.

Two-beam light with 'checkered-pattern' photon-number distributions.

Photon-number-resolved post-selection on one beam out of a correlated system of three beams with bi-partite photon-number correlations gives rise to joint photon-number distributions with the probabilities forming checkered patterns. These patterns originate in the convolution of two constituting photon-number distributions, one endowed with correlations in photon numbers, the other exhibiting anti-correlations in photon-number fluctuations. Using three twin beams of comparable intensity whose constituting beams suitably overlap on the photocathode of a photon-number-resolving iCCD camera, we experimentally as well as theoretically analyze the properties of such states as they change with the varying ratio of the correlated and anti-correlated contributions. The experimental photocount 2D histograms of the fields post-selected by the iCCD camera that are reconstructed by the maximum-likelihood approach confirm their non-classicality though the limited detection efficiency in post-selection conceals the checkered patterns. Contrary to this, the maximum-likelihood reconstruction of the experimental 3D photocount histogram similarly as a suitable 3D Gaussian fit, that reveal the states as they would be obtained by ideal post-selection, provide the photon-number distributions with the checkered patterns. The corresponding quasi-distributions of integrated intensities are determined. Nonclassical properties of the generated states are investigated using suitable non-classicality criteria and the corresponding non-classicality depths. These states with their correlations of varying intensity are prospective for two-photon excitations of atoms and molecules as well as two-photon spectroscopy.

Non-classicality of optical fields as observed in photocount and photon-number distributions.

Non-classicality criteria for optical fields based on the probabilities of photocount and photon-number distributions are derived. Relations among the criteria obtained by the applied methods are revealed. Redundant criteria are identified. The performance of the fundamental criteria is tested on a set of potentially sub-Poissonian fields generated by photon-number-resolved post-selection from a mesoscopic twin beam. The corresponding non-classicality depths are determined to quantitatively compare the used criteria.

Simultaneous observation of higher-order non-classicalities based on experimental photocount moments and probabilities.

Using a sub-Poissonian optical field generated from a weak twin beam by photon-number resolving post-selection we have simultaneously observed higher-order non-classicalities in photocount moments (sub-Poissonian statistics) and probabilities (witnessed by the Klyshko inequalities). Up to the seventh-order non-classicalities in photocount moments simultaneously with up to the eleventh-order non-classicalities in photocount probabilities have been experimentally observed. Non-classicality counting parameters of different orders as experimental counterparts of the theoretical Lee non-classicality depth have been suggested to quantify and also mutually compare the robustness of these non-classicalities against the noise.

Analytical model of surface second-harmonic generation.

The process of second-harmonic generation (SHG) in a finite one-dimensional nonlinear medium is analyzed in parallel by the Green-function technique and the Fourier-transform method. Considering the fundamental pump field propagating along a given direction and eliminating back-reflections at the boundaries the terms giving the surface second-harmonic fields in the particular solution of the wave equation are uniquely identified. Using these terms the flow of energy corresponding to the surface second-harmonic fields is analyzed in the vicinity of the boundaries. The formula giving the depth of the nonlinear medium contributing to the surface SHG is obtained. Both approaches for describing the SHG are compared considering complexity and quantization of the interacting fields. In addition, a theoretical model of surface SHG in centrosymmetric media is proposed. The model is built upon assumption that the second-order nonlinearity decays exponentially with distance from the boundary. As an important example, the generation of surface SHG from a thin dielectric nonlinear layer placed on a silicon substrate is analyzed by the proposed model.

Waves in spatio-spectral and -temporal coherence of evolving ultra-intense twin beams.

Waves in the spatio-spectral and -temporal coherence of evolving ultra-intense twin beams are predicted: Twin beams with low intensities attain maximal coherence in the beam center until certain threshold intensity is reached. Then the area of maximal coherence moves with increasing intensity from the beam center towards its edges leaving the beam center with low coherence (the first coherence wave). For even larger intensities, a new coherence maximum is gradually built in the beam center with the increasing intensity and, later, it again moves towards the beam edges forming the second coherence wave. Rotationally-symmetric twin beams are analyzed within a three-dimensional model that couples spectral and spatial degrees of freedom. Relation between the twin-beam coherence and its local density of modes during the nonlinear evolution is discussed.

Intense spectrally broad-band twin beams from poled nonlinear crystals.

Properties of intense twin beams generated in parametric down-conversion in periodically poled LiNbO3 crystals and their chirped variants by intense pump fields are analyzed along the model of intense parametric down-conversion that allows for pump depletion and uses the dual spatio-spectral Schmidt modes. Spectral and spatial intensity auto- and cross-correlation functions are determined as they depend on the pump power. Temporal correlations in intense twin beams at the fs time scale are investigated using the Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer and the process of sum-frequency generation.

Publisher Correction: Experimental identification of non-classicality of noisy twin beams and other related two-mode states.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Publisher Correction: Experimental identification of non-classicality of noisy twin beams and other related two-mode states.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

Experimental identification of non-classicality of noisy twin beams and other related two-mode states.

Different non-classicality criteria expressed in the form of inequalities among intensity moments and elements of photon-number distributions are applied to noisy twin beams and other two-mode states obtained from a twin beam by using a beam splitter. Their performance in revealing the non-classicality is judged in comparison with the exact results provided by suitable entanglement and local non-classicality quantifiers. Whereas the non-classicality of noisy twin beams is always revealed by these criteria, not all the nonclassical states obtained at the output of the beam splitter can be identified by these experimentally easily reachable criteria.

Entanglement and nonclassicality in four-mode Gaussian states generated via parametric down-conversion and frequency up-conversion.

Multipartite entanglement and nonclassicality of four-mode Gaussian states generated in two simultaneous nonlinear processes involving parametric down-conversion and frequency up-conversion are analyzed assuming the vacuum as the initial state. Suitable conditions for the generation of highly entangled states are found. Transfer of the entanglement from the down-converted modes into the up-converted ones is also suggested. The analysis of the whole set of states reveals that sub-shot-noise intensity correlations between the equally-populated down-converted modes, as well as the equally-populated up-converted modes, uniquely identify entangled states. They represent a powerful entanglement identifier also in other cases with arbitrarily populated modes.

Nonclassicality Invariant of General Two-Mode Gaussian States.

We introduce a new quantity for describing nonclassicality of an arbitrary optical two-mode Gaussian state which remains invariant under any global photon-number preserving unitary transformation of the covariance matrix of the state. The invariant naturally splits into an entanglement monotone and local-nonclassicality quantifiers applied to the reduced states. This shows how entanglement can be converted into local squeezing and vice versa. Twin beams and their transformations at a beam splitter are analyzed as an example providing squeezed light. An extension of this approach to pure three-mode Gaussian states is given.

Internal dynamics of intense twin beams and their coherence.

The dynamics of intense twin beams in pump-depleted parametric down-conversion is studied. A generalized parametric approximation is suggested to solve the quantum model. Its comparison with a semiclassical model valid for larger twin-beam intensities confirms its applicability. The experimentally observed maxima in the spectral and spatial intensity auto- and cross- correlation functions depending on pump power are explained in terms of different speeds of the (back-) flow of energy between the individual down-converted modes and the corresponding pump modes. This effect is also responsible for the gradual replacement of the initial exponential growth of the down-converted fields by the linear one. Furthermore, it forms a minimum in the curve giving the effective number of twin-beam modes. These effects manifest a tight relation between the twin-beam coherence and its internal structure, as clearly visible in the model. Multiple maxima in the intensity correlation functions originating in the oscillations of energy flow between the pump and down-converted modes are theoretically predicted.

Experimental detection of nonclassicality of single-mode fields via intensity moments.

Nonclassicality criteria based on intensity moments and derived from the usual matrix approach are compared to those provided by the majorization theory. The majorization theory is shown to give a greater number of more suitable nonclassicality criteria. Fifteen experimentally useful criteria of the majorization theory containing the intensity moments up to the fifth order are identified. Their performance is experimentally demonstrated on the set of eleven potentially nonclassical states generated from a twin beam by postselection based on detecting a given number of photocounts in one arm by using an iCCD camera.